


The Lesson

by realityisoverrated



Series: Infinite Love [155]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Infertility, M/M, Polyamory, Polyfidelity, Smoaking billionaires, Toliver, flommy, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-02 23:34:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13328775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/realityisoverrated/pseuds/realityisoverrated
Summary: Oliver and Felicity are away, and Donna is staying with Tommy to help look after Bobby and Becca. Tommy has a lot on his mind and can't sleep. Donna fixes him a warm glass of milk and gives him some motherly advice.





	The Lesson

**Author's Note:**

> This story depicts a polyamorous relationship between one woman and two men. If this is not something you are interested in, please stop and go no further.
> 
> I did post an update last Wednesday, but the notification didn't go out to those who subscribe to the series.
> 
> This installment is 111/155. The chronological list for the series, with hyperlinks, can be found at http://archiveofourown.org/works/11051019
> 
> If you're new to the series, welcome. The more the merrier.

Artwork by Deena_K

 

"Hey hon," Donna said as she shuffled into the kitchen, "What are you doing up?"

Tommy quickly placed the doll he’d been holding on the chair next to him. He’d been practicing braiding hair on one of Becca’s dolls and wasn’t having much success. He’d been watching videos on YouTube, but he didn’t think he’d be able to French braid Becca’s hair for school picture day. "Couldn't sleep?  You?"

"Same, "Donna yawned.  "I'm making warm milk. I’ll make you some too."

"Thanks," Tommy said.

"What’s keeping you awake?" Donna placed the pan on the stove and added milk.

Tommy smiled sheepishly, "I can’t sleep until I hear from Ollie and Felicity when they’re traveling. I need to know they've arrived safely."

Donna looked at him like he was a puppy wearing a bunny suit, "You guys are the cutest."

"Nah, it's just the last time Oliver went somewhere and I went to sleep before he arrived, I didn't see him for five years.”

Donna placed a mug of warm milk in front of Tommy and sat down. He smiled in thanks and took a sip. He couldn’t remember if his own mom ever made him warm milk, but before she died, he never had trouble sleeping. He liked having Donna around. It was nice to be fussed over and to remember what it was like to have a mom who loved him.

“So, hon, are you going to tell me what you’re doing to that doll?”

Tommy sighed and moved the doll to the table, “Tomorrow is picture day at nursery school, but it’s going to rain.”

“I’m sure you think there was an answer in that sentence,” Donna teased.

“Becca’s hair,” he summarized.

Donna smiled, “Ah, humidity, plus curls, equals frizz.”

“I thought I’d try French braids,” he held up the doll. “I watched online videos and I’ve been practicing, but frizz might be the better look.”

“Hon,” she squeezed his hand, “I can do Becca’s hair in the morning.”

Tommy smiled gratefully, “I know you can, but I should learn. This isn’t going to be the only time Felicity is away and what if you’re not available? I should be able to braid my own kid’s hair.”

Donna patted his hand and stood up. She rummaged through her purse and removed a brush. Donna pulled her chair out and sat sideways on her chair. She held the brush out to him over her shoulder. “You just need to practice and doll hair is terrible.”

Tommy took the brush, “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Donna took hold of her mug, “You can practice while I drink my milk.”

Tommy moved his chair behind Donna’s, “I was thinking I’d do two braids tomorrow.”

“That’ll be cute,” Donna replied. “You’ll want to do a center part and place the half of the hair you’re not braiding in a pig tail so it doesn’t get in your way.”

Tommy followed her instructions, “Okay, what’s next?”

Tommy followed Donna’s instructions and got to work. They sat in silence until he’d gotten halfway through the first braid. “Are you going to tell me the real reason why Felicity and Oliver aren’t here?”

Tommy’s fingers stumbled and he dropped a third of the braid. He couldn’t salvage what he’d already completed, and was forced to start over. “They went to Gotham for a meeting with some regulators on a new R&D facility QC wants to build.”

“The both needed to go?” Donna challenged.

“No, but Felicity and Oliver like to show a united front to the board and investors.” Tommy ran his fingers through Donna’s hair to free the partial braid. “The meeting with the regulators is a big deal.” What Tommy wasn’t saying was that Oliver had some Justice League business while he was in Gotham.

“Are they a united front?” Donna asked innocently.

“Of course, they are.” Tommy put the brush between his teeth and partitioned her hair.

“I’m not talking about work, Thomas Merlyn. Tell me what’s going on with you three.” Donna sighed, “I have eyes. I know things are strained. The day Felicity found out she was pregnant, she told me she was worried that your marriage was over.”

Tommy dropped the brush into his lap, “Our marriage isn’t over. The fertility treatments were stressful, on all of us.”

“But on Oliver and Felicity, in particular,” Donna took a sip of her milk.

“They were frustrated it was taking so long They both blamed themselves – she’s pregnant now. Everything is fine,” Tommy insisted.

“You sent them both,” Donna stated. Before he could object, she continued, “Oliver told Quentin you told him to, fix it.”

Tommy sighed, “Ollie’s stubborn. He thinks that we can just sweep the last two years under the rug and pretend like nothing happened. He wants to focus on the pregnancy and the future.”

“There’s something to be said for not dwelling on the past,” Donna offered.

“There’s something to be said for apologizing when you’ve acted like an ass,” Tommy countered.

“Has he apologized to you?” Donna asked.

Tommy snorted.

“How are things between you and Felicity and you and Oliver? The past year happened to you too, hon.”

“Not in the same way it happened to them,” Tommy said.

“Last time I checked, those are your babies in her womb too,” Donna said.

“Yes, they’re my babies, but I wasn’t the one going through the treatments. I’m fine. Felicity and I are good. We always end up on the same page.”

“Have you had sex since she found out she was pregnant?”

“Donna,” Tommy pleaded.

“Have you?” she persisted.

“Yes, we’ve had sex.”

“How about you and Oliver?”

“No, we haven’t,” he said curtly.

“Maybe you and Oliver are the two who needed to go away together.”

“Ollie and I will be fine once he makes things okay with Felicity.”

“Felicity is worried,” Donna said softly.

“About Ollie?”

Donna turned to look at him, “No, hon, about you.”

He shook his head, “She shouldn’t worry about me.”

“She’s worried that you’re angry with Oliver because of her.”

“Did she tell you that?” he asked with surprise. He couldn’t believe Felicity was talking about this with her mom, but hadn’t mentioned a word of it to him.

“She told me that she’s worried about you. Everyone spent the past year worrying about how she and Oliver were doing that everyone took you for granted.”

“That’s how it goes sometimes,” Tommy placed an elastic at the end of Donna’s braid. “It was my turn to take care of them.”

“Did I ever tell you about my marriage to Noah?” Donna asked casually.

Tommy began Donna’s second braid, “I think I would remember if you had.”

“I was at my first year of college when I met this very handsome grad student. When he first asked me out, I knew I should have said no. He was twenty-four. I was eighteen. Six years isn’t that much of an age difference, but it is at that age. My parents had sheltered me, and I believed every promise he made me. I got swept up in the romance of it all. When I found out I was pregnant, he offered to marry me. When I look back at it, I realize he only married me to prevent losing his position at the university. We went to Vegas one weekend and got married. When I told my parents that I got married and was having a baby, they cut me out of their life. They stopped paying for my tuition and Noah couldn’t afford it, so I dropped out. When Felicity was born, I sent them a letter with her picture inside. I didn’t think they could see how beautiful and perfect she was and not want to be part of her life. They sent the letter back to me unopened.”

Tommy gently squeezed Donna’s shoulder, “Donna, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine any of my children doing anything that would make me cut them from my life.”

“That’s because you’re a very good dad,” Donna said patting his hand. “I sometimes wonder if Felicity didn’t tell me about you guys because she worried I’d do what my parents did.”

Tommy put the brush down, and dropped his head at his own stupidity. “I never thought of that before, but it makes sense. God, I was awful about that sometimes. I pushed and pushed her to tell you. I never could understand how she thought you would ever stop speaking to her.”

“There’s nothing my sweet girl could do that would make me stop loving her,” Donna said handing him back the brush, “but I understand her fear. I used to tell her that her grandparents didn’t want to have anything to do with us because of my choice to be with Noah. Felicity was almost a teenager before my parents started returning my Rosh Hashanah cards.”

“It couldn’t have been easy being married with a child as a teenager. I’m forty-two and I sometimes feel like I’m out of my depth,” Tommy confessed.

“You know me, I always look for the positive side in every situation,” Donna said with false brightness in her voice. “I got caught up in my very handsome husband and my beautiful baby girl. Everything was good until Noah graduated and took a job at a government lab in Nevada – Felicity was four. He got caught up in his work. Even when he was at home, he wasn’t really there. He’d lock himself in his office with his computer and I’d hardly ever see him. Once he realized how bright Felicity was, he spent, whatever time he wasn’t working, with her. I was alone in my own marriage. There is nothing worse than being lonely in a marriage.”

Tommy wiped his eyes against his shoulder. He knew exactly what Donna meant. The past year of his life had been lonely, even with a husband, wife, and two children filling his days and nights.

“I never stood up for myself. I never told Noah what I needed. I never told him how lonely I felt. I think I was afraid he’d leave.” Donna shrugged, “He left anyway.”

“No one is leaving,” Tommy said confidently. Felicity was pregnant. Everything was back on track and they were moving forward. Everything was fine.

“You’re a lot like I was. You keep everything bottled up. You put everyone ahead of yourself until you can’t take it anymore and you snap. Sometimes, the best thing you can do for your relationship is put yourself first. If you never put yourself first, pretty soon, no one is,” Donna said kindly.

“I promise, I’m not bottling things up,” Tommy said, almost believing himself. The past two years had been hard on him, but no harder than they’d been on Felicity or Oliver. He was prepared to move forward and leave all his hurt feelings behind.

“Felicity is worried that you’re afraid to tell her that she messed up,” Donna said like she could read his mind.

“She didn’t mess up,” Tommy defended his wife. “She’s had a rough two years.”

“So have you,” Donna reminded him. “Tommy, don’t act like you’re walking on broken glass in your own marriage. That won’t make things better. If you need more from Felicity and Oliver than what they’ve been giving you, you need to speak up before it turns to resentment and there is nothing left to fix.”

“I love them both,” Tommy said placing an elastic in her hair. “Everything is going to be fine, because we always figure it out.”

“That is true,” Donna said as she touched her new braids.

“What do you think?” Tommy asked her as she looked at her reflection in a mirror.

“Pretty good,” Donna said with a smile. “I think Becca’s lucky to have you for her da.”

“We’re all pretty lucky around here,” Tommy said as he placed Becca’s doll back into the toy chest.

Tommy’s cell rang and he grabbed it off the table. “It’s Ollie and Felicity,” he said with relief.

“On that note, I’m off to bed.” Donna kissed his cheek, “Goodnight. Tell them I said, hi.”

“Hi,” Tommy answered. “Are you at the hotel?”

“No, we just landed and we’re sitting in the limo waiting for the driver to load our luggage,” Felicity answered. “How are Bobby and Becca?”

“Asleep,” he answered.

“Why aren’t you?” Oliver asked.

“I’m on my way upstairs now,” Tommy said rinsing out his and Donna’s mugs in the sink. “I just needed to hear your voices before I laid down.”

“These are our voices,” Felicity teased gently. “Stop puttering in the kitchen and go upstairs.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tommy said as he turned off the kitchen light.

Hildy got off her bed in the kitchen and followed him upstairs. He peeked in on Bobby and Becca before climbing into his own bed. He listened as Oliver and Felicity spoke with the driver. Hildy jumped onto the bed and nestled against his side.

“I’m in bed,” he informed his spouses when he heard the partition window between them and their driver close. “How are you feeling?”

“I kept my dinner down,” Felicity said with relief.

“That’s good,” Tommy responded.

Oliver snorted, “She ate two saltines and a banana.”

“Babe,” Tommy gently chided.

“I’ll order something when we get to the hotel,” Felicity promised.

“Thank you,” Tommy said through a yawn.

“Get some sleep,” Oliver said. “We’ll call you in the morning.”

“I love you,” Tommy told them.

“I love you,” they said together.

Tommy placed his cell on his nightstand and shut off his lamp. He closed his eyes and repeated to himself, “Everything is going to be fine.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. Kudos and comments are always welcomed and appreciated. 
> 
> I've had a touch of the flu and have spent nearly a week in bed sleeping. I've been a little slow responding to comments, but, I promise, I will get to everyone.
> 
> Prompts are encouraged.
> 
> You can also come say hi to me on tumblr. I'm always happy to answer questions about this verse or anything else Arrow. http://realityisoverrated-fic.tumblr.com


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